Dan McCarney: Madison, Judson persevere

It goes without saying that Madison and Judson will be substantial underdogs in their respective semifinal meetings with unbeaten Houston powers Katy and Galena Park North Shore.

Considering the road they’ve taken to get there, we doubt they’d want it any other way.

Against the prevailing odds, San Antonio’s final two postseason representatives continued their miraculous runs Saturday at the Alamodome in typically improbable fashion.

Madison trailed Smithson Valley by 21 points entering the fourth quarter before winning 38-35 in overtime on John Vivian’s field goal, while Judson dominated Reagan 42-21 little more than a month after losing to the Rattlers by 14 in the final game of the regular season.

For the Mavericks, Saturday’s comeback summarized a season in which they’ve survived one crisis after another.

The high/lowlights:

* Losing all-state tailback Devin Thomas to a season-ending ankle injury in Game 6, then backups Josh Miles and Ryan Ladd in Game 10.

* Driving the length of the field against Warren’s vaunted defense for a last-minute touchdown to advance past the second round.

* Blowing a 28-7 lead on the road last week against Weslaco before rallying to win in the fourth quarter.

Then, of course, came Saturday, in which Bryan Ehrlich connected with sophomore Nate Askew for four touchdowns in the final 11:52 to spark what has to rank as the most memorable victory in Madison history.

No wonder offensive coordinator Ron Rittimann fought to compose himself when asked to comment on his team’s perseverance.

“It’s been like this all year,” he said, tearing up. “Every time something’s happened, these guys have figured out a way to deal with it. Driving here today, I guarantee you that every kid on that bus expected to win.”

Rittman’s emotion wasn’t the only indication that this was a special victory earned by a special team. North East athletic director Jerry Comalander, normally a picture of reserve, was so excited that he picked Mavericks coach Jim Streety off the ground in a celebratory bear hug.

Then there was Ehrlich, who couldn’t wait to share his thoughts with one of the many media members (namely, me) who had dismissed Madison’s chances of beating the supposedly superior Rangers.

“We wanted to prove y’all wrong,” said Ehrlich, who threw for 359 yards. “We never gave up. We haven’t given up all season. We had 50 or 60 guys who bought into the idea that if you don’t want to win, you can go home. Our coaches never gave up on us, and we never gave up on them.”

The same can be said of the Rockets, who were written off more times over the past few years than they’ve been in their entire history.

In hindsight, the assessment that the Judson dynasty had crumbled seems foolish considering they’re in the state semifinals for the third time in four years and the 16th overall.

But some perspective is needed: Once so dominant that they reached the semis nine seasons in a row, the Rockets missed the playoffs last season and barely scraped in this year after losing three of their final four games.

Surely, it was all part of a death knell brought about by the opening of sister school Wagner, which took roughly 2,000 students and veteran defensive coordinator Pete Gibbens.

If the salad days were indeed over, somebody forgot to tell the Rockets, who over the past month have overcome the inconsistency and lack of focus that plagued them throughout the year.

“I would say (beating Austin) Bowie was the turning point,” coach Jim Rackley said. “We’ve been getting better every week since then. You just have to mature. You have to go through the process. We had a lot of seniors, but we didn’t have a lot of experience.

“The traditions, what they kept hearing, it finally started to sink it. We just had to convince our kids that they’d be an outstanding football team if we could play for four quarters. Which is what we saw (Saturday).